Optical devices, such as lenses and mirrors, are typically coupled to a mechanical assembly by a mount, commonly referred to as an optical mount. An optical mount is typically in the form of a spring-loaded mechanism, intended to maintain the position of a reflective or transmissive optical element, while providing tip, tilt and piston adjustments. The stiffness of springs used in the optical mount usually dictates the stability of the optical mount under shock and vibration loading. However, as spring force of the springs is increased for stability, adjustment screws in the optical mount may need increasingly coarse threads to prevent stripping. Thus, the mount stiffness and the resolution of the adjustments can be competing parameters. Moreover, the optical mount typically includes an optical element, such as a minor cell, which can be disturbed in such a way that the contact between the mirror cell and the adjustment screws can be lost. This occurs whenever the product of the minor cell mass, and the acceleration due to shock or vibration acting on the minor cell, exceeds the spring force. At accelerations below that required to dislodge the minor cell, the minor cell does not move. Similarly, when exposed to accelerations that tend to force the minor cell against the adjustment screws, the mirror cell does not move. Thus, the dynamics of the mirror cell in response to acceleration are nonlinear. Of practical consequence is that when dislodged by acceleration, the minor cell may not necessarily return precisely to the original position. In such cases, the optical mount may be dislodged out of alignment. The spring force can be increased in order to improve the stability of the optical mount so that increasingly larger levels of acceleration can be tolerated without dislodging the mirror cell. However, the adjustment screws may then have to support the spring force. The fine pitch screws required for high-resolution adjustments can exhibit large thread stresses when acted upon by high spring forces. When the spring force exceeds the capacity of the adjustment screws, the threads can be stripped off the shanks of the adjustment screws. Optical mounts which are difficult to align, or that fail to hold alignment, can be labor intensive and can impact performance.
Methods for mounting optical lenses are known. One known method for mounting optical lenses uses epoxy bonding of the structures supporting the lenses. However, the epoxy bonds are not applied between surfaces that are articulated with respect to one another by an adjustment mechanism. In addition, known optical mounts typically provide only minimal conduction of heat from the supported optical lens or minor cell to the surface to which the optical mount is attached. Heat can accumulate rapidly in optics employed in High Energy Laser (HEL) applications. The rate of conduction heat transfer is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the conduction path. In known optical mounts, the only available conduction path is typically through the springs and the adjustment screws, both of which contact the mechanism over minimal areas.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved mounting assembly and methods for an optical mount that provides advantages over known assemblies and methods.